Most classic and muscle cars reside in garages or barns dotted across the country, sitting patiently until their owners come to dust them off and drive them again. Not everybody treats their cars like treasured relics though; many still take their classics and race them as hard as they have ever been raced. We have mucho respect for these men and women, especially when they take rare cars produced in limited quanitites and push them to their absolute limit. Of course, when you race a car, accidents can and will happen.

Such is the case with the ’54 Corvette driven by Bill Peter and John Schantz of Wisconsin, which we first reported on last week. On the 5^th section of the La Carrera Panamericana race, the Panamericana blog reports that the ‘Vette has crashed and will not be able to finish the race.

Pictures: David Leah

The La Panamericana race has taken place intermittently since 1950. This year was the 60^th anniversary of the first race, and the 23^rd actual Panamericana race. Back in 1954, Bill Von Esser entered a Corvette in the Panamericana race, the first international debut of the Corvette and one of the first races it ever entered. Alas, the “reliable” modified Blue Flame inline-six cylinder engine spat out a rod that burst through the engine block, taking the Corvette out of the race during the first section.

Bill and John did quite a bit better, making it all the way to the fifth section of the race. Unlike von Esser’s car, the Corvette did not suffer from engine failure, but rather driver failure, as the car was crashed somewhere between Queretaro and Morelia. The damage looks serious though, as the entire front end of the fiberglass body was ripped from the Corvette, making it essentially untraceable. Such a shame, but one must given big props to two men who took a chance with a rare car and raced it how it was intended to be raced.